I had someone purchase a 55” TV from a different store, go home and put their old (smaller) tv in the box, and try to return it. The look on his face when he realized I was gonna open it was priceless.

This happened at Popeyes. There 3 people bought EVERY SINGLE CHICKEN SANDWICH IN STOCK. EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. Then, they tried to sell it to people that were there for a dollar extra. No one bought it.

A regular always tried to get things for cheaper, including switching the tags. One day she came in and told me that she had gotten a test at the doctor's, and "might have cancer" so she really needed something nice to make herself feel better. She wanted a $75 item for $20, and we were soooooooooo heartless that we wouldn't give her any discount, even though she might have cancer. I told her that not only was I a heartless witch, but that I was going to sacrifice a goat to Satan later that night, and the item was $75, or else GTFO. (My supervisor heard this and just spent the whole night sniggering at random intervals.) She left.... and never mentioned cancer again in her subsequent visits.

I work at a bicycle shop that also does repairs, and every once in awhile someone will come in with a stolen bicycle they want to get tuned up. When we know with absolute certainty that it's a stolen bicycle, we will accept the bike for repair, but as soon as they hand it over we will tell them we're keeping it and to not come back. The interesting part is how confidently they come in with an obviously stolen bike and how long they'll carry on the lie that its theirs. We also always contact the real owner and let them know we found their bicycle, just for the record.

We once had a couple men come into our small store, the one poured a cup of soapy water on the floor, and about 3 mins later his buddy "slipped" on it. The one man asked for compensation from the owner, but me as a manager, I pointed out that there were several cameras in and out of the building, and we had footage of them both talking outside, and pouring soap into the glass. I told them to have their lawyer contact the owner, and they took off before I could give them a business card.

Its the petty stuff that amazes me. This guy comes in, first 10 mins we were open that day. I'm putting stock away on the shelf and this guy goes up to the register, ready to pay. So I ring up his loaf of Rainbow bread. I tell him the total and he says it should have been about $0.75 cheaper. I tell him that's the price for the store brand bread, not the Rainbow. He doesn't accept this at all saying that the bread was sitting in the space labeled for the cheap bread so 'that's false advertisement.' So I get my manager as I can't override the price being the lowly associate I am. He gets into it with my manager who don't take no s**t and they go on a bit, but she does override the price and he pays it. Upon giving him his change, basically the $0.75 he saved, he says to keep it and walks out the store.

Cashier at Home Depot. guy comes thru the self checkout with a big $550 DeWalt drill combo. Does his checkout business then asks me to remove the alarm tag for him. Notice SCO screen is still up on his transaction and its only $14. Tell him there was a mistake and to go to returns (I know he was bulls**tting us). Comes back and drops the "oh i'm going to check out the other model" line and then leaves. His buddy, also on SCO, ripped a barcode so i had to help him and not pay attention to the other guy trying to steal the combo kit. They both leave, call the cops, cop already has them in cop car for pulling them over for expired plates or some s**t as they left the store parking lot. Turns out the guy had peeled the UPC off a $14 toolbox and put it on his hand. As he covered up the Dewalt UPC, the SCO scanned the toolbox code. Police arrest the guys and I go to court incase i have to testify or something. Guys end up in jail. I get award and $50.

Dude walks up to the register and says he wants to return a thing (I think it was a mirror) that we sell for like $150, that his wife bought it and it doesn’t fit the space they wanted it for. He doesn’t have a receipt but he does have his internet banking on his phone with a transaction that says it’s from us for over about 200, says his wife bough other stuff at the same time. We will accept this provided we can find the sale in the system, the dates match, the amount matches, they can tell us other things that were on the transaction and usually we check the cameras as well if we’re feeling paranoid. As soon as the manager saw the bank statement she knew it was all BS. The guy had renamed a transaction to our store name but it was misspelt and not at all how our work shows up on bank statements. So she tells him she needs to go out the back to process a return without a receipt. She grabs the top manager tells him what’s going on and they have a look at the cameras. Dude had walked through every aisle to find one of the more expensive items we sell, grabbed his phone and f****d around on it for a bit (we assume to change the name on the transaction), grabbed the mirror and taken it to the register. I gotta wonder how many time he did this and no one questioned him.

When I worked in a convenience store store many years ago, the candy was all in a set of shelves right at the checkout counter. The wife of a well known businessman in town would buy a regular sized 3 musketeers bar, drop it "by mistake" and quickly switch it with the giant sized one as she scurried out the door. She did it several times a week. It was such a sad behavior that I didn't bother to call her on it, but I was continually amazed that someone of such stature in town, would take such a chance for such a silly little thing.

Old guy came through my line, as he was swiping his card he actually told me proudly "this here is my buddy's card. He owes me a bunch of money. He don't know I got his PIN. Sometimes you gotta be smart." So I told him I had to see his ID to process the transaction. He gives me his ID which, obviously, doesn't match the card, so I politely cancel the sale. He is shocked and irate, but confides to me he'll just go to another register and try again. I tell him I understand and immediately make a phone call. Less than five minutes later he's being escorted to a back office by an officer, looking even more shocked. It still mystifies me because if he had just kept his trap shut he probably could have hit every register in the store.

I think it's more what haven't they tried. I've managed a shoe store for eight years and the lengths people go for a deal is insane. The most common problem I see is people (very obviously) swapping price tags and then being really insulted when you don't let they away with. Nothing has ever topped the melted shoes though. A few years ago I got a call from a woman. She was hard to understand and the most I could glean from the conversation was her shoes had melted. I told her to come into the store and I would see what I could do. I should mention we have the most relaxed return policy out there. So later that day, the woman comes in with very very melted shoes. Puzzled at how this happened, I asked her. She said she had sprayed them with an aerosol protecting spray while they were on her feet, and then noticed a little plastic tie that held a tag on the shoe. Her immediate thought was to melt it off with her lighter. Having apparently missed science class, she was shocked that the shoes caught fire and melted the laces, mesh shoes and her socks, as well as causing minor burns to her feet. At this point I am biting my tongue to avoid laughing, and ask her what she would like me to do for her. She tells me she would like either a refund or a replacement pair because she knows what our return policy states we have to do. So we replaced them, cautioned her about the spray and asked her very nicely to shop where from now on.

I was on the opposite end, a salesperson tried to tell me she'd spoken to my boss the day before and wanted to know when she should deliver a new copier. I said you didn't talk to my boss yesterday. She said she did. I told her I know you didn't, because his wife died suddenly the day before and he wasn't talking to anyone.

Used to work at Costco, and at the end of December without fail there would be a handful of people who brought in real Christmas trees for a refund. Always wanted to tell them to f-off, but costcos policy allows for this sort of stuff so had to do it with a smile.

Mine is we once had an electronic razor returned twice. The first time the woman who'd bought it earlier that day said her husband had bought one elsewhere so this was no longer needed. Reasonable enough so my boss refunded her and put it back on the shelf. Hour later another woman buys it. She returns an hour later saying it has been used and shows us the hair inside it. Best we can tell one of the husbands had used the razor and returned it.

When I worked at Gamestop I saw a ton of them, but I think my favorite two are: some kids stole a controller from the Walmart across the parking lot and ripped it out of the box as they walked over to "return" it. I watched them take it out of the box and litter with the trash because they also walked in front of my car to do it as I was driving into the parking lot to start my shift. Then they came in and started yelling about how they wanted their money back for it and they didn't care if they needed a receipt to get it. I told them next time they thought they were gonna be sneaky maybe they shouldn't throw the box down in the parking lot and kicked them out of my store. Same goes for the guy who was a living nightmare, literally calling corporate customer service in front of us because my employee denied him a return out of policy until the corporate people told her to do the return anyway. This SOB grinned like a cat in the cream, took his money, then as soon as my employee went on her break he stormed back in and demanded more money, saying she'd shorted him like $20 and calling him the n-word before kicking him out. Even though I'd been standing behind the counter beside her the whole time... and heard every word they'd said because there were no other customers in the store... I kicked him out for real.

If grocery counts as retail, I worked in a bakery department of a local grocery chain. We often had regular customers get extravagant cakes done by our decorators, also knew that if they complained enough, they could get it for free (if the right pushover managers were present). One night, we had a customer come in very late to pick up her two cakes, one shaped like Pacman, and another half sheet made into a Pacman map with our lovable ghosts on it. She. Loved. It. She gushed about it as we packed it up, after showing her how it turned out. And as we handed to her over the counter, she sort of stopped and thought. Opened it up again, and started complaining about how it was all wrong. She just didn't think any of it was what she ordered. We insisted, and showed her the paperwork for the phone order she placed. It was exact to the t. She still wouldn't have any of it. "It's okay, I've done this before. Just call [manager's on duty name], he knows me, he'll give it to me for free!" She smiled as we called him. He was livid. Told her he couldn't take any discount, but he'll keep the cake there and she didn't have to buy it if she didn't want it. I left for the end of my shift at that point, and all I remember is her face looking shocked. I'm not sure how the outcome played, but we were told the next morning to not take large orders over the phone any more.

i work at a clothing store, and whenever a customer comes with a bunch of receipts for multiple returns on previous purchases, i always think they are trying to rip us off somehow. I don't think they actually are, but it always feels like they are. why else would they buy a ton of s**t, and then return all of them separately (sometimes at different stores) still with the tags on?

Had a customer try the ol' can you swap this £20 for two tenners, and then swap one of those tenners for a five and coins, and swap that for a fiver trick etc. There's videos and s**t on YouTube, I knew straight away what he was doing so when he then tried to distract me with a random question, and then tell me he didn't' get a something in change I told him he had it and to get the f**k out. He tried to play it off like he'd just forgotten he had it, but we both knew.

I worked at a smaller Rona store in Ontario. Since its a smaller store I looked after some departments, cut keys, invoiced, paint desk, returns ect. Customer comes back to our service desk (return desk as well cause we inspect the product) f**king guy comes in and tries to return something stupid and low in price with a brand I don't recognize. Buddy hands me a Home Depot receipt I'm like. This is a home depot receipt. Customer was like "Ohhh" then left.

I worked in retail when young. We had a drug addict wrapping the inside of a plastic bag with tin foil and tried to steal some PS/Xbox games.. heavy drugged and moving like a stoned sloth. All while I was standing 2ft next to him during this incredible heist of his. We ended up letting him go, but the kept the advanced gear.